


At The Crossroads: The Graphics Post

by ZephyrChrysalis



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Rating for Story not Graphics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-09-26 07:49:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 9,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9874259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZephyrChrysalis/pseuds/ZephyrChrysalis
Summary: This is the graphics art post detailing the images created for CassondraWinchester's story, At The Crossroads.More will be added as the story progresses!Image for Chapter 11 Revised! 4.22.2017





	1. The Cover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cover for At The Crossroads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you reading At the Crossroads who stopped by and left kudos or visited my walk throughs, I thank you very much for taking the time to do so in advance.
> 
> You'll see from the images that I've created that there was a lot of discussion between me and Cassie before any artwork was started and put in place. I hadn't planned on doing graphics for this story but when Cassie asked me, after working with her on her DCBB, I was more than happy to step in and work with her again.
> 
> A lot of thought and work went into these graphics. I hope you like them and enjoy the walk throughs I've prepared.
> 
> Thanks for visting! Mari

Some of you may know my thoughts on art in fics from my other works or if you’ve visited my Live Journal page. For those of you who don’t, you should know that I’m also a writer. I’ve written professionally for business for more than 20 years and I’ve written fan fiction for almost 10 for another fandom and for two year for the Supernatural fandom, however, I write under a nom de plume.

My views on art for fics is really quite simple. As an author and a graphic artist, I believe strongly that any artwork used to illustrate a story should support it. It’s a work of fiction that is including artwork, it is not a graphic display that has copy attached.

In all the fics for which I’ve provided graphics I’ve tried to do just this.

And, now… onto the cover for AT THE CROSSROADS!

I was really excited when Cassie asked me to provide the graphics for this story. I worked with her on her 2016 DCBB, Poisk Istiny, that she wrote with Lotrspnfangirl.

We'd talked extensively about CROSSROADS for several weeks before I started to formulate the graphics plan for this piece. The cover, for me is always a critical piece. It's the first thing the reader sees and it should make you want to read the story... it's that extra little pull that cries out, "Read me!" But, the cover, in my opinion should never give away the story! I feel the same way about titles! Just like book jackets do for commercial novels.

This piece went through several versions. Cassie and I both had an idea of what we wanted but executing became a whole different ballgame!

_** Here's a walk through on how this cover actually came to light! ** _

I think I went through about 5 different versions of the Crossroads scene from the show. I took out Dean and Sam. I took out the Impala. I added shadows. I built more woods and flora. I changed the perspective. At one point I took out the building and the two cars that were there along with their shadows. I made it night time. But after all of that, it just did not work.

I had also prepped 3 versions of Cas for it… a back view of Cas, a side view, an oblique view… nope, just not working! Sigh…

Time to try again!

On the hunt, I went, for a new crossroad pic! I found one… it wasn’t quite what I wanted, but it had potential!

This is it…

So, first order of business – taking out the parts of the pic that I didn’t want. The man, the sky in the background, the pole and the tree.

Then I added in some more of the far bushes on the horizon.

That left me with this…

Now, I needed some new trees. And I needed a nice sky, with stars but no moon.

...... 

Next… dress off the bottom of the trees and add more bushes in the back, note red circles, so that they blend into the landscape. Then, add in highlights to the branches. This is when I had to make a decision on which direction I wanted the moonlight to fall. This would affect both trees and the later images of Dean and Cas. And it would affect my shadowing.

Decision made… from the right.

That left me with this…

Time to add in a nice starry sky!

Phew! Almost there! Now I just need to make it look like night other than the lovely sky I found!

So… here we go…

...... 

Now… the boys! Oh, and Crowley! And a bit more shading and highlighting!  
As I said earlier, I wanted moonlight coming off camera but from the right. That meant adding a bit of highlighting or back shadow to Dean and Cas.

But, let me take a moment and tell you about that! I have, no exaggeration about a dozen shots of Misha and Jensen as themselves and in character that I played around with for this cover. WOW… If they weren’t so good to look at, I think I might have lost my mind!

I didn’t like any of what I had! Not a one… at least, not for this!

I went on the hunt again. I got my housemate to help me, too! She’s great at hunting photos!

Finally, I found this great shot of Misha and Jensen together. In black and white which wasn’t what I was planning to use, but… the pic was perfect, except for the fact that they were in the wrong positon. And I needed to rebuild Jensen’s sleeve. But, I got to work… split them. Removed the background and filled in some areas on their faces that were not as desirable as I would like. Fixed Jensen’s sleeve, which you end up not really seeing, but that doesn’t matter. Overall it made the pics better! I added in the back light that I wanted and ended up with this! Oh, and dropped Crowley in the far background. I wanted it to look as though he was watching our two guys!

Added in a bit more shading…

Added in the type … And I was done! Done, done, done! I crossed my fingers and sent it over to Cassie and sent up a tiny prayer to all the Gods that she would like what I’d done.

Luckily, she did! So, three weeks, and about a hundred hours later, we had a cover banner! Whoot!

_Click Banner for the story!_


	2. Primary Scene Separator/Divider

I feel strongly that a separator/divider should NOT detract from the actual story, but should be a small supporting element TO the story.

For this story Cassie and I kicked around many ideas for the separator/divider. One of our first thoughts was a different one for each chapter, but that would be, in my opinion, a detractor. We finally decided that it should be a single image, but then the quandary was what that image should be!

After much discussion, Cassie and I decided to use the box that's buried at the crossroads to call forth the demon that could grant your wish.

Now, in Cassie’s fic the box was originally metal. I looked at dozens and dozens of metal boxes and just could not find one that I really liked well enough to have throughout every chapter.

Then I remembered the one from the show that Dean buries in Season 2. I went looking for it. I ended up screen capping it myself because the caps of this scene that I did find were too blurry.

I started with this…

First… get rid of the background. That took a little doing, because the light values were very low contrast. But, I got it done and moved on to graphically repairing the box. It took 15 layers of tiny pieces of wood and hand coloring to repair the box and get it looking as crisp as it should.

From this rough cut...

To this finished box...

Next up… a license for Cas!  
This was tedious, but fun too…. Just to see if I could get it the way I wanted it even if you don’t see all the details in the finished graphic. I know they’re there!

So… I started with a fake Kansas license.

Next… clean up as much of the fake as I could since it had info on it that I didn’t want. But I didn’t want to lose the background image either. It took a bit of time but I think it was worth it. Then, I needed the right image of Cas which wasn’t difficult to find at all!

I ended up with this…

Next step… add in the information I wanted and needed for it to be a license that belonged to Cas!

I added in his signature under the main picture. Then his contact information and license information to the right of the main image. To the far right I added in accurate personal information. I was quite pleased with the results!

It kinda killed me to have to reduce the piece to a size that would be barely recognizable, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so it had to be done! And now, with this little walk through, you’re getting to see it!

Here's the final result... resized ...

Thanks for popping in! Now, go read this fantastic fic!

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	3. The Cast

I call these pieces Character Cards. I've found them a handy device for introducing canon characters in settings or poses that evoke the characters they're portraying in the current author's story. I hope you like them!

[ _**Read the story here!**_ ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9552227)


	4. The Chapter Headers, Nos. 1 to 4

When Cassie and I discussed the graphics for this story, one of the things she mentioned right away was having chapter headers. She really liked what I’d done on the chapter headers for Poisk Istiny and wanted to have that on this story as well.

I love chapter headers! But only when they can add something to the story. Sometimes the flavor of the chapter can be depicted in just type, other times just an image, and then other times a combination of image and font style can add so much to chapter headers. I believe the chapter header should hint at what’s coming up and further engage the reader.

For this story, I wanted, again, to do something that would add to the chapter and entice the reader to want to read more of Cassie’s terrific writing!

When creating these chapter headers I like to latch onto a key component of the chapter and produce artwork that reflects it. Cassie and I had decided not to use the cover on every chapter and so, the headers for subsequent chapters were a little more complex, some became very complex, but more on that later! All the headers are done as PNG images which for the uninitiated are images on a transparent background. 

Now, chapter one is the only outlier in the style of chapter headers I planned to create. I kept it to just the simple ‘chapter’ and the number because it was going to be following the cover for the story and I didn’t want the two pieces to compete with each other.

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Now, for chapter 2, Time was the important factor. A pocket watch just seemed so perfect! I could see Cas using one and it seemed like the perfect timepiece for Crowley as well! When I broached the idea to Cassie, she really liked it and went back into her text and made some judicious changes to some sections where Castiel consults a timepiece. She gave him a pocket watch instead of the usual wrist watch!

This graphic was fairly easy… I just needed to remove background and then put in a shadow!

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Pie was a key for this chapter since Cas brings a home baked one to his dinner with Dean. Plus I think when you first see the header, you might be thinking… what’s up with the pie? So, pie… and a plate, of course!

I couldn’t find quite the right pie at first, but finally hit on this one. Then I went looking for a plate and fork, but ended up taking a plate, putting a fork on it and adding some crumbs! Next I overlayed the images and added in some shadow, then the text … and done!

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The dinner Dean’s planned for him and Cas is critical. And it’s a specific type of dinner… sushi! Yumm! Cassie is a fellow sushi lover and she’d made a point that Dean had the traditional _tokkuri_ and _chokos_. For those of you who don’t indulge in sushi, the _tokkuri_ is the vase-like bottle that holds Sake, Japanese Rice wine, and the _chokos_ are the small cups used to drink the wine.

I thought depicting these along with a set of chopsticks would be perfect for chapter 4’s header! Finding the right _tokkuri_ and _chokos_ was another matter. When I found this set, there was only one cup and the _tokkuri_ was missing part of his lower half. But it was perfect for the story… I was undeterred! I rebuilt the part of the _tokkuri_ that was missing and created a second _choko_! After nesting them together the way I wanted, I added in some shadow, but it still needed something! That’s when I went looking for chopsticks! And, wow, it took me a lot longer to find the right ones than I ever would have thought! But I did find a pair, and after repositioning them and playing with the perspective I had them just the way I wanted!

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	5. The Note from Dean - Chapter 4

The artwork that was created specifically for Chapter 4 centers on a note that Dean leaves on Castiel’s door. When Cassie and I were discussing the pieces for this story we were looking for key moments to highlight with graphics without interrupting the flow of the story.

Since I’m also editing (beta’ing) this story, when I hit on the note in Chapter 4, I thought it was the perfect little thing to highlight. One of my reasons was that it gave a tiny bit more insight into Dean.

Here’s how it appears in the story…

_**Here's a walk through on how this note actually came to light!**_

In creating this piece it started off with the question…what would Dean’s handwriting look like? I wanted something clear enough to be read, but also of a more masculine style. Then I thought, guys don’t really have stationery or notepads the way a lot of women do, but, then I thought… he’d be a sucker for a notepad with a vintage Impala on it… right?

And that’s where I started! Finding a good pic of the Impala was fairly easy. Once I found the one I wanted, I ran it through a two filters that gave me a more sketched look.

This was the result…

Putting the image of the Impala on a white note page with a gray border was super easy. And the border was just the right touch to finish it off.

Next task, what would Dean’s handwriting look like? I’ve got about 50 cursive fonts from which I could choose – and finally found, what I consider, the right one! I used a font called Cheddar Jack. Then, I need to pick a color of blue to resemble a standard ink pen that we all have floating around our homes.

So… the first note looked like this…

The note came out really well, but it wasn’t enough. It’s hard to believe looking at it now, that there are 8 layers in that little note! But, it was too flat and lacked ‘life’. This is when I wish I could actually draw… but, I can’t. So, next best thing… find the graphics to create what I have in mind!

I needed hands. I wanted hands holding the note. And a shadow of Cas cast over the note that he’s reading. Now, Misha has really nice hands. His fingers are long, whereas Jensen’s are more blunt and his nails broader. I couldn’t find a good pic of Misha’s hands to use, so I went shopping for a set that would come close. 

I found a stock photo and snagged it! They were nearly perfect… just a tiny bit too light. No prob… I could darken them just a bit! But, first… there was background that had to come out and a couple other items needed to go as well.

I started with this…

But needed this…

Next step… put the note in the hands. And here’s where it got just a bit tricky! Not so much putting the note in the hands, but positioning the hands in a more natural way and splitting the note in half. 

Why in half?

Well, Cassie wrote a really nice reaction line for Cas while he’s reading… and I didn’t want to lose that! ‘Cause, once again, I’m of the school of thought that the image should support the writing!

So, after a lot of experimenting and studying how my hands would hold such a note and how the shadows fell, I was ready to give it a shot!

Once I had the hands positioned correctly, I added in thumb shadows on where Cas is actually holding the note. 

And ended up with this…

And now it was time to split the image so that the line of text would be highlighted and the image would fit as seamlessly as possible into the story! But first, I needed a shadow of Cas over the note and some background… so, first the shadow went in.

Then, I imagined that Castiel’s place might be painted a grayish-blue and put my digital painting skills to work. Plus, I didn’t want a sharp, flat background. I wanted something that showed a bit more life to it, but was a soft underpinning of the note. 

The final two images…

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[](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9552227)

_Click Banner to read the story!_


	6. Chapter Header, No. 5

This is the most complex Chapter header of this story. But it was great fun to put together! 

My first pass at this header was really simple and didn’t speak as well to the chapter as I really wanted. Each chapter header, basically, foreshadows something that’s going to happen in the story. On my second pass at this header I thought it would be really cool to use some of the items that you take to a Rocky Horror Live show. I giggled at the thought. So… I collected some images and showed my idea to Cassie. A fellow fan of the corseted transvestite – she loved it!

So… I gathered a newspaper, a water gun, some rubber gloves, gotta have some TP, some toast… oh, and rice is a must. Then I thought that a party hat would be good to have didn’t like the colors, so, I recolored the one I used. But the one thing that Cassie and I really wanted was a noisemaker! And we just could not find a good old fashioned noise maker that didn’t either have Halloween or New Years on it! Grrr…

Cassie and I looked together and… nothing. Then she found this!

My reaction? Oh… cool! I can make us one!

Here’s how that actually happened…

Then I just needed to add in the Rocky Horror images Cassie and I both wanted! Easy peasy!

The final result…

And that’s how the Chapter 5 Header came to be! Phew!

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	7. The Cobbler & Ice Cream - Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very yummy treat for the boys... but... what happens to it?

As you probably know by now, I’m big on images supporting the story. When discussing this chapter, Cassie and I talked about including one that could support a very key scene in this chapter. 

We kicked around a few ideas, but then hit on this one. The cobbler and the ice cream. Cassie asked if I could find a peach cobbler and then show the ice cream melted. I said that I’d try, but felt fairly good about it. 

It was a challenge… but fun, too!

So… first… finding the perfect cobbler, hopefully with some ice cream on it!

Melting the ice cream… I’m not going to show you all the layers that it took to do that. Suffice it to say that it took 12 layer of cut and distorted images to create the ‘melted’ effect.

And then…

Now… I just need to duplicate this… and resize the spoon! I think these came out really good. I hope you think so!

Okay, I've got my cobblers with melty ice cream. But, I can't just leave them like that... they look a bit lost  
and lonely. And in the fic the guys put the dishes on the coffee table. I thought about that, the issue is  
finding a table in the right perspective as in sitting on the sofa and looking over it. It's not a true overhead  
shot. It's more oblique. I took a pic of my own for reference which I've stupidly deleted.

That said, this is how I finished off this piece. The shadows I'd originally put on the dishes and the spoons were  
lessened and traded in for reflections on the finished piece since they'd be reflected in the table. 

You'll also see that I included two remote control. They're not mentioned in the story, but who has a completely  
empty coffee table? I know I don't... can't ever keep stuff off of that thing! Somehow, I imagine that Cas might have  
that same issue. Plus, they were planning to watch a movie... so...

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	8. The Movie Theater - Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Dean and Cas go on their first date!

The date Dean and Cas go on to a Live version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show is a big deal for them. It’s their first REAL date! Plus, Cassie and I are big fans of the show… so there is that.

For the story, Cassie and I thought it would be neat to show the movie theater that they’re going to. 

I went looking for a retro type of cinema, that make me think of a smaller town theater. I had one in mind from an art theater where I’d seen Rocky Horror more than a few times. In a Google search, I found this…

And it was fairly perfect. Now… I just had to make it ours! 

First, I changed the name of the theater. This is a pic of an actual theater and I didn’t want to use that.

Next step…

I needed a banner for the Rocky Horror Picture Show… I found tons to choose from and one that was nearly perfect for what I needed.

Here’s how the banner I used was created!

Now… adding it to the theater!

Final step… filling in the movie display windows that flank the theater!

The Final Result!

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I thought it would be cool to share the actual Prop List for the show. And it really  
tickled me to use the iconic lips for the bullets!

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	9. Chapter Header No. 6 & Scene Separators

This chapter header was quite simple, so, nothing really needs to be said on this, except that sometimes simple just works!

**The Scene Separator.** If you’ve been reading this Graphics Masterpost or you’ve read any of my others then you know I have big rules on the scene separator/divider.

I firmly believe that they should not interrupt the flow of the story. IF used they should support the story in context. If they are not going to be supportive then the scene separator/divider should be a gentle separation from scene to scene when needed.

For this chapter the Crossroads Box that is the general separator/divider might have taken you out of the context of the date in the drive-in. So, I created some supportive dividers that would do what was needed but not pull you out of the date that Cassie had written for Dean and Cas.

First up…

 **The Drive-in Dinner**  
Who doesn’t love comfort fun food!

With a few elements, curly fries, a drink, a barbecue roast beef sandwich and I was all set. My first step was merging the image of the barbecued beef sandwich that I chose with a different sandwich that I found in a foil wrapping. After resizing and shadowing for depth, distorting the foil wrapping a bit, I had the perfect sandwich image!

To create the base image of the Drive-in Dinner I started by removing shadows and reflections that were in the original images since they did not correspond with what I needed. Changes to the various elements sizing to scale, positions, and the perspectives on the fries and sandwich were needed to actually create the ‘Dinner’. To finalize the base image, I put my three main elements into a nice tray box just like the ones I used to get at my local drive-in! Then I added in appropriate shadowing for depth and perspective, and a special little touch… ketchup packets! Can you have curly fries without? I can’t!

After running the base ‘Dinner’ through a couple different filters I achieved the final result.

Completed base... Filtered Final Image... 

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**The Lasagna Dinner**

To create this Scene Separator/Divider, I followed the same steps as for the Drive-in Dinner. This time, however, I kept the background of the lasagna image which was found with a Google search. To create the size I needed, I added to the dishtowel that is to the right of the image thereby making the image longer and changing the perspective I could work with. Then, I simply nested in the garlic bread and salad. I added shadows to both and slightly altered the coloration of the salad for a deeper image.

To complete the image, it was run through two filters and resized overall to create the finished piece.

Completed Base...  
  
  
Filtered Final Image Resized & Perspective slightly altered...  


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**The Halloween Store**

For this Scene Divider I did very little. Cassie and I found this image through a Google search and she said that it was exactly what she had in mind!

A simple crop. A run through a couple of filters, altering the size and I had the look I wanted that fit with the other images in this chapter!

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 ** _[More Graphics for Chapter 6 here! ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9874259/chapters/22636850)_**

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_Click Banner for the story!_

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**Disclaimers:** Coca-cola is a trademark of The Coca-Cola company and it wholly owned by them (http://www.coca-colacompany.com). Heinz is the trade name and trademark of The Kraft Heinz Company, Inc. and is wholly owned by them (http://www.kraftheinzcompany.com). Halloween Express is the property of The Halloween Express, Inc. and is wholly owned by them (https://www.halloweenexpress.com).


	10. The Drive-in Movie - Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another special date for our guys!

Creating this piece was more fun than I thought it would be. It was great fun to research and find drive-ins that were still open today. There are only a little over 300 that still exist.

Going to the drive-in was always a special treat when I was a kid, and doing this brought back some great memories!

To create the piece I took a couple of actual real time shots of a drive in and super-imposed them one over the other.

But the sky was not quite the way I wanted it, so I took another layer of just sky and super-imposed it over top.

I ended up with this final base layer…

The special drive-in screening that Dean and Cas are attending is called _Horrorfest_. So, I wanted something that said that. I created my own.

It was fairly simple, a black background, some dripping blood and some type that I layered in varying opacities and then off-set. Finally, I ‘dirt’ spotted the entire image to give it a bit of age and I was done!

The final two steps included resizing my ‘movie’ and adding in the light beams that you could always see over the entire expanse of the drive in.

I created the light beams by painting in several layers of gray in solid and diffused strokes. Once that was completed, I adjusted the opacity level for the entire lot! I was really tickled with the way the light beams came out… not having them just leaves the image quite flat.

The final image was cropped with slightly feathered edges. And here it is!

The end of our boy’s date is marked by the final frame of the movie, _Halloween_. I was lucky enough to find that exact image!

Again, I layered age spots and crack lines over it, because the film is from 1978 and, hence, has definitely aged a bit.

For the final piece, I layered the movie frame into my ‘drive-in’, resized it, then did a close crop on the entire image with slightly feathered edges.

* * *

Thanks for popping in! I hope you enjoyed this walk-through...Now, go read this fantastic fic!

_Click Banner for the story!_


	11. Chapter Header, No. 7

This chapter header was tons of fun! And tons of work!

I used the same candelabra and the beer bucket (which I created) that were used on the Party Table. How I created the Beer Bucket is  
in the walk-through in the next chatper.

But I wanted some other fun things for this header... I wanted a cake and balloons and shots! Lots of shots!

So... I found this cake and these balloons... and these shots!

And, that's how I created the Chapter 7 Header!

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	12. The Party Table - Chapter 7

Believe it or not, this table was quite fun to make! It was, however, labor intensive! 

You won't believe how many components went into making this table happen!

The first steps were putting together the components...

So, first I collected all the items I'd need that some of my party tables have had, but I also wanted  
to be sure to capture what Cassie had in her story! My shopping list included beer, lava cakes (super important),  
some Halloween type candy, and then I needed something to put the cakes on and the beer in! I also wanted some  
nice decorations... like a candelabra, and some table garland... you get the picture! And if you don't, I made you one!

Read the notes in red for how all of this was done!

Here goes... first... the cake!

Next...

Lots of Lava Cakes!

Now... Some Beer!

And, now for some pretty stuff!

FINALLY! We get to put the table together!  
Oh, but wait! Damn! We need a table!

Okay... here goes...

And there ya go... one party table! I hope you like it! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too!

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	13. Sleeping Cas - Chapter 7

This closing scene with Cas and Dean is a really important one to the story. After talking with Cassie about it  
we thought that showing Cas after Dean's tucked him into bed would be a nice way to close out the chapter.

I said I'd take a crack at it. I think it came out fairly well.

For the final image I added in a warm light off camera and from the left with a very gentle shadow of Dean over the blanket.

The finished image...

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_Click Banner for the story!_


	14. Something Sexy in the Kitchen - Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A delicate approach to some sexy times!

I've been swamped with work, and really didn't have time to do a walk-through on this piece. I'd like to  
come back and do one eventually. I'll try to do it soon!

This was a fun piece... especially, since in both original pics the men were with girls!

But just to give you a bit of how this image came to be... I got rid of one of the girls, and the backgrounds.  
I used the male that had been with the girl and used the body of the second man for my image. It was important  
to me to find male bodies that came close to the musculature of Dean and Cas. Once the 'bodies' were in place   
I did a wackton of retouching to even out skin tones!

Then laid in a kitchen background with a couple of pumpkins, just for realism and a bit of persepective!

Here's the result!

See... just a hint! I thought it was a playful way to do this and Cassie agreed!

Hope you like!


	15. Bedtime Cuddles - Chapter 8

Again, I didn't have the time to do a full walk-through on this piece. I'll try to do one at a future date.

But here's just a bit.

Cassie and I had discussed this closing scene for quite some time. I had this pic that I'd collected for another story  
and it was never used, but it was, luckily, still in the 'Interesting Shot's' Folder. I'm a pack-rat. I keep everything!

We both loved this shot... so I went to work!

The pic was smallish. Both men's arms were cut off at the elbow and at the trapezoid, so there was also missing bed.  
I wrinkled my nose at that... and went to find reference pics so that I could paint in the missing parts of both men's arms.

Then I needed more bed. And more blankets. And more, more pillows!

So... on the hunt I went! I found two great bed! One with fantastic pillows... and the other had a breat cotton comforter!

I snipped and clipped and distorted and bulged... and got pretty close to just what I wanted. Then I needed some more   
shadows in the sheets, so I painted them in. 

There was a huge problem with this fic to start with and now I had to address it. What was the problem, you ask.   
Oh, glad you asked!

And the answer is... the original pic was morning -- and very brightly lit. I needed a night time shot.

So... next step... make it night. Now this is easy to say, not so easy to do! And I wanted some warm light shining down on  
our guys too... you know, as if they left the lights on!

After much shading and opaquing and filtering... I got the end result that I think works quite well. Cassie was very pleased   
and that's very important to me. 

So... I started with this...

And created this...

Hope you like!


	16. Crowley Talks to Dean - Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little chat with the King of Hell...

When Cassie and I discussed the images for this chapter, we both thought that having something that included Crowley would be key  
to include. The perfect spot to illustrate was when he contacts Dean.

This is the image as it appears in the story...

_** Here's a quickie walk through on how this cover actually came to light!  
** _

I'll do a better walk through of this piece later... but here's the bones!

The final image, at the top, went through several layers of shadowing for the reflections and adding Dean reflected  
in the TV and his shadow that would spill over onto the console and the wall. Shadows were added to the items that  
ultimately ended up on the TV console as well.

When I do one of these illustrations I like them to look as organic as I can possibly make them -- almost as if you were  
peeking in on Crowley's conversation with Dean.

I hope you like it!


	17. Shower Time - Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steamy! Oh, and a tad NSFW!

Again, Cassie and I thought it would be a real treat if I could illustrate the Shower the boys take  
before heading out for their fun time going through the corn maze and taking the hay ride at Bergmann's.

So... I started with a suggestive man in the shower and then embellished from there!

I'll do more on this later... but, again, here are the bones!

The final image as it appears in the story...

I hope you like this...it was fun to do!


	18. School Days... - Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peek into the school life of Cas, Gabe and Zar!

Oh, my... this was a fun one!

There's a ton more work that actually went into this piece! The original picture was a lot bigger, but not necessary to  
show you that... but the piece that I did use, had a lot of imperfections. The entire area that I used to display the  
collages by Cas's class and Gabe's had flaws that I just didn't like and so, I fixed them. Primarily I took out the  
blackboard and redid the wood trim.

I added in the banners that Cassie and I found along with the class signs. Then I did a bit of shadowing for the  
entire hallway, but kept the light that came from the skylights not shown. Finally, I included the sign designating  
the Faculty Lounge and called it done!

This piece was quite fun to do... I hope you enjoy it!


	19. The Chapter Headers, Nos. 8 to 10

As you've seen by now, the chapter headers for this story are a key component to the set up for each chapter.  
These three were fairly simple.

Cas and Dean make caramel apples and carve pumpkins in this chapter. What better way to introduce you to a bit  
about what's going to happen in this coming chapter!

Now this chapter header is deceivingly simple. The pile of hay was a find... and it was relatively easy to remove from it's  
simple background. The picnic basket... now that was another matter! It took five different layers to get that out of it's  
background nice and clean and then put it back together!

It's turkey day! And nothing says that better than the bird and the traditional cornucopia!


	20. Some New Faces! Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adding two more character cards!

Meet Castiel's Parents!

Since Castiel's mom is a good deal older than the actress who plays here, Emily Perkins, I tried to find an  
appropriate image. This one is originally of her character in 'When Calls The Heart' which is a Hallmark production.

Next, again, because she needed to be older, I tried to age her a bit. I added in dark pigment under her eyes and some  
gentle crow's feet at the corner of her eyes. Then I deepened the labial fold between her lips and cheek.

Finally, since she's a nurse in this story, I thought it would be interesting to set her in her professional areana.

Castiel's dad, again, needed to be a bit older. First, I looked for a pic that might allow me to age it a bit.  
I was lucky to find this one, although, I wanted something where 'Chuck' is in outerwear. That wasn't working  
for me. But, I thought, if he just stepped out of his book store for a bit, he'd throw on a scarf... and so, he did!  
Or I did it for him!


	21. A Wall of Awards - Chapter 10

After beta'ing this chapter for Cassie, I suggested that she add in a bit more of the personal aspect for Dean and Cas.

Once she did that, she'd added a small scene with Dean noticing Cas's awards in his bedroom. I thought it would be   
a great visual to share. Cassie agreed! And I set out to create Cas's brag wall!

Now, this... this was slightly a labor of love or I had lost my mind! Why, you ask.

Well, lemme tell ya!

It's because all of these awards were individually created and customized for Cas and this story!

I'll try to come back and do a walk-through on this in the next week or so, but right now, I've got to do some writing   
and some work for, you know, that pesky thing called 'the job!"


	22. Chapter Header, No. 11 & Chapter Scene Divider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Tis the Season...

The title of this chapter says it all... Oh Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree! And decorating was the word of the day! When Cassie and I talked about the art for this chapter there were several pieces that I would have liked to do. But, first, the header and the divider.

First... the chapter header!

This was deceptively not as simple as it might look. Once I collected several images of Christmas decorations, some in groups, some singles. I set about making my own 'pile' of decorations.  
For some of these I changed the hue of the color. For example there's a few ornaments in here that were quite large that I made very small. They were red and white, but I wanted gold and wine.  
Others were purple, but I wanted blue. I couldn't find a green I liked, so I played around with color values until I got the green I wanted.

And finally, I had my chapter header!

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The scene divider for this was truly simple. And it had to be something that would not be jarring to the reader, and still support the story.

So.. the first order of the day for me and Cassie was, what should it be. We kicked around a few ideas... one was using the popcorn again. Or strewing the popcorn for the divider. I thought about using ornaments, but kicked that out. I thought about Christmas lights. But these weren't quite right.

Then I went back to the story... and Dean's making a pot of chili... and the lightbulb went off!

And you got this...

And the execution here was truly simple. I knocked the back out of the original image.  
  
Replaced it with the color of gray white that's in the majority of Dean's apartment.  
  
Then it was a simple matter of extending the counter/table the bowl is on and extending the spoon... and ... done!

  


Now... onto the bigger images... see the next two chapters of this post!

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	23. Christmas Movies and Couch Shenanigans - Chapter 11

Cassie and I talked about several larger scene supporting images for this story. Of the three I wanted to do, I was able to do two of them. Maybe I’ll come back and add the other sometime in the near future… but, we’ll see. I’ve got tons more art to do going forward!

So… let’s talk, just briefly, about these two images.

 

Dean and Cas hunker down for a night of Christmas movie watching and Santa’s Popcorn noshing!

This is the first of two larger images for this chapter. It’s a key scene where are guys are just enjoying their time together!

Some of you will recognize the wall color and TV from the one I created for chapter 9 which was set in Dean’s apartment. Since their movie watching takes place at Dean’s as well, I wanted to use the same piece of furniture.

That was the easy part. The more difficult was getting two sets of legs that I liked! One set was already on a coffee table that I could use… oh, lucky me… the fates smiled. However, the background of the original image was brick and that can be a real b*tch to cut away! 

And this piece is all about perspective. And secondarily on focus… where do I want your attention? I want it on what the guys are watching!

Cassie and I chose this scene from the first of the four movies Dean and Cas chose for their evening of movie viewing! It’s a scene from _Christmas with the Kranks_.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do a walk-through on this piece. I’ll try to come back and do one later.

But… Here’s the original…

And here’s my final image…

  


  


Hope you like!

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	24. A Sleigh Ride for Lovers - Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snowy afternoon!

This sleigh ride is another key scene of this chapter and really had to be included. And I was super excited to give it a shot. There were a few things I knew I didn’t want to do. I wanted this image, as most of my images do, to represent our Dean and Cas.

Now, I’m of the school of thought that hold with the tenant that to do that you don’t necessarily have to manip the images of Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins into the actual scene.

Sometimes, representing is enough. I think it works beautifully here. Luckily, Cassie agrees.

Now I have to tell you that this image took quite a few hours to build and it is built. It’s comprised of 8 different images. And I think I’ve lost count of the number of layers that comprise multiple manipulations on each one of them. 

For starters… there was no horse on my original sleigh pic, just the rump of one.

...The couple that was in the sleigh was a man and a woman.

...There was a mountain in the background.

None of these things worked for me.

I’d love to do a pictorial walk-through, but it would probably take me longer to cut the images for that than the 7 hours it took me to render the image!

So… to make it into what I wanted. 

\-- I got rid of the partial horse and found another horse in the right direction of the right size that I could put in it’s place. 

\-- Next, took out the mountain vista.

\-- Then took out the man and the woman.

\-- Next part… put the guys in the sleigh! This wasn’t as easy as it might sound. Again, it’s about scale and perspective here. I had pics of 2 men, from the back, in outer wear. Had to get them out of their backgrounds. That was fairly straight forward, you just need patience!

I am the queen of patience. 

Next… get them in the actual sleigh, side-by-side. Got that done, phew!

And now… I needed a new background.

After much searching I found a perfect one of groups of people enjoying the snowy weather and going on carriage rides of their own.

Used that… but it wasn’t enough.

I had culled a pic of children playing in the snow and it had similar trees to the background I was already using.

Slotted that in and blended out the foreground trees with the far background ones. This was all about perspective as well. The trick was bending the foreground backdrop pic so that it was going in the direction I needed it to go.

Then I needed something else… took me a bit to figure out what that something else was. It was 3 in the morning and I slept on it.

And when I revisited it, I knew what was missing… a fence!

On to the search… because I had a very specific fence in mind and didn’t have time to create one from scratch. Well, the God’s smiled on me… and I found the perfect one!

Laid it in and went to work manipulating the perspectives fore and aft…. Then put in some shadows and painted in the snow around the posts!

Phew!

NOW… it looked the way I wanted it to look.

The final touch… it is snowing in the story.

Finally, 8 images, about 70 layers and about 7 hours later I had this…

~~It’s not perfect, but~~ I fixed the horse... and now it's more in the proper scale! Overall, I think this image evokes the right feeling for this scene in this story. I hope you like it!

  


  


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	25. The Christmas Warzone - Chapter 12

_“Caaassss! please don't make me do it, don't make me go.” Dean whined as he followed Castiel out of the bathroom where they had just gotten out of the shower._

_Castiel snorted at his boyfriend as he pulled up his jeans. “You sound like I'm sending you off to war.”_

_“You are making me go to a shopping mall. In December!” Dean crossed his arms over his chest. “A week before Christmas! War would be less messy.”_

Honestly... I'm with Dean on this one!

Giggle...

We HAD to have a pic of a crowded mall... afterall, what is Christmas without one!

I really did nothing to this image except slot in the name 'Lawrence Mall'. It was shopping for the image that was the fun and grueling part!

I did made several atempts to integrate our guys into the image. I tried three times and one came out fairly well, HOWEVER, it would have been a game  
of "Find Waldo"!

So, Cassie and I opted for just the image of The Mall... aka The Christmas War Zone!

  


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	26. Naughty Boys! - Chapter 12

Cas and Dean alone in a dark classroom... usually running wild with the happy squeals of 5 year olds... 

doing the (clears throat) you-know-what on Mr. Novak's desk... gasps... oh... oh... OH!

Giggle... the visuals this build in my head were just too much!

When Cassie and I talked about it, we both went right for the 'naughty boy' aftermath of sex on Cas's school desk!

And the sight of this, in our mind's eye, in a kindergarten... well, my dears, it was just too, TOO good to pass up!

So, I created this...

Both Cassie and I giggled over Dean having to write lines on the blackboard... show of hands for all of you who once had to do this? M'yeah, thought so! So, in case you're unsure... the board says, **I will not misuse Mr. Cas's desk.** And Cassie got a kick at putting a ruler on the desk and they had to have a bit of lube too... so I included both!

After doing a lot more research on Kindergarten Teacher's desk, I found that they were all decorated with their names. But, well, Cas's wouldn't survive completely in tact after the guys were done, so, I put a couple off their pins! I have to admit to having quite a bit of fun creating this image! I hope you like it!

Now... before we got to the guys doing the horizontal samba on Cas's desk, we took a stroll through the school!

Cassie and I thought it would be cool to display more of the kid's artwork! Every elementary school proudly display's their student's handiwork and Lawrence Elementary wouldn't be any different!

I used the same corridor that was used back in Chapter 9 since Cas's school didn't change. And it gives us another insight into where Cas spends the majority of his day! 

Cassie and I took a less Christmas approach and a more Holiday approach. When I went searching for Bulletin Boards made by elementary kids from kindergarten to third grade I found a wealth of image from which to choose. I stuck with those that were Winter themed, rather than Christams themed!

And, here it is!

  


  


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	27. Christmas at The Novaks! Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Tis the Season to Decorate!

Merry Christmas to us all!

And especially Dean, Cas and the Novaks!

When Cassie and I discussed this story, one of the key things she wanted was a heavily decorated house for the Novaks! 

I did my best to fulfill that wish.

Here it is…

Now… I’d really love to do a full walk through on this piece but it would probably take me almost as much time as it did to create it.

But, just for starters. This is the beginning image…

You should recognize this from the image of the Novak house back in chapter 10, when Cas and Dean came for Thanksgiving!

And now, it’s Christmas time! So, I set out to decorate the house to meet what Cassie and I discussed. First, I started by studying lit houses that were decorated for the holiday. I’ve never decorated a house for Christmas in image form and I had a lot to learn!

Did you know that lights give off a glow? Like everywhere? Yeah, they do… and that takes a bit of doing!

I thought I’d be smart and just go get lights off an existing house. It was a good idea in theory, not so much in actuality.

I ended up creating my own lights.

And, seriously, it’s not just a dot of a yellowish color… trust me, I tried that. Nope. Not happening. 

I created this…

Looking at it you’d probably have a difficult time believing that there are 6 different layers of shapes and colors in differing levels of transparency. Trust me, there are! I know I saved the original file, but I’ll be damned if I can find it right now! It’s most likely in another art folder for this story. I’ll find it… eventually… but, I digress!

Okay… so this was my beginning string of lights, which I doubled and offset so it would look like this…

Aaaannnd, now, I had lights! Phew!

Oh, but I’ve jumped the gun and several steps ahead. It was days before I knew I’d need to create my own Christmas lights!

Actually, I started with decorating the house! And then there has to be garland… lots and lots of the green stuff!

And we need a door wreath! And some window wreaths… I just love that look! And a ribbon for the wreaths is a must! 

Here are the elements I used...

Now, lest you think these can just be slapped onto the existing house, let me dissuade you from this thought!

Each wreath and bow had to be put on separately! Why, you ask? Well, because the house is not a straight on shot. It’s sitting at an angle which means part of it is going to look smaller. For those of you who don’t understand art or the vanishing point, it’s about perspective.

After I sized and placed all the wreaths with their bows… this is what I had…

This has been resized for the purposes of this post. But you’ll notice that some are not exactly round or that they’re cut off. That’s because there was another object in the way of the actual wreath that required it be trimmed to fit into the existing image.

Here are the elements I used for the porch and the lawn as well as the lights to all the bushes…

Now…Here’s a step-by-step of how I did it!


	28. The Novak Christmas Tree - Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deck the halls with boughs of holly... fa la la la!

From This...

To this...

I added in the garland on the windows because the original image was just a bit sad looking in it's setting.

Then I added in more gifts! Including creating this rather large one that's given to Castiel!

The other gifts were from stock images that I just placed appropriately, added in shadows and reflections and it was a wrap!

This was a lot of fun to do!


	29. Ringing in the New Year - Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celebrating New Year's Eve with Dean and Cas!

Cassie and I had several discussions on what images we wanted to show in this section.

We wanted something simple and universal that would be a nice touch stone for all the readers and, again, not be an interruption to the story, but an enhancement.

I'm not going to do a walk through on these, but suffice it to say that this first image is actually comprised of about 20 layers. I had to increase the depth of the TV wall unit that's in Dean's apartment, there are 5 layers just in the champagne glasses to get them and the liquid to have the right level of tanslucency!

Then it was just a simple matter of adding in the chips and remote... and the image from New York's Times Square!

And here it is...

This chapter has what I like to call a Martini Shot... which just means it's the last image of the chapter.

Again, Cassie and I wanted just a simple shot that showed the guys seeing in the New Year together!

And... that's it!


	30. A Key Moment - Chapter 14

There's a moment in the hospital that really resonated with me.

It's when Cas reaches out for Dean's hand. 

I wanted to create something for this small moment and I really wanted to use Jensen's and Misha's hands. Finding the right images was a bear!  
I think I probably spent about 10 hours just looking for the right ones. I lost count of how many I screen capped, but I know it was more than 20!

The one I found for Dean came quickly...

It was the image for Cas's hand that took the most time! Finally I found this...

Once I took out the backgrounds I was ready to get down to the real work! First I had to see if these hands would work together to be clasped. They did with a few manips.

On Dean's hand I had to bend his forefinger which I did with just two cuts and using the transforming tool to 'bend' the finger at the first and second knuckle. Next, I had to bend his thumb a bit closer to Cas's hand. Finally, I had to do a bit of cosmetic shading to cover shadows on his thumb that could not be cut away without sacrificing the actual digit. 

Then it was a matter of varying layers to intertwine their fingers. After that I did a couple of screens to lighten up Dean's hand and add a bit of shadow to Cas's.

Next step on Dean's hand was building out his sleeve. That was a fairly simple matter of replicating the cuff and taking a base shirt sleeve and recoloring it to match what Dean had on.

On Castiel's hand, there wan't as much work. The work on this part came in taking out the raincoat and putting in the jacket that I show Cas wearing in the picture of them leaving the hospital.

I was stuck for a background and Cassie helped out big time... she sent me a great pic of a hospital wall, which I added in and blurred. It really put the guy's hands into focus!

I hope you like it. I have to admit that I like the concrete abstract of it!


	31. Whoops! Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun times and not so fun times!

There’s a lot going on in this chapter! Plus, we learn a bit more about Dean’s brother and his surrogate father in this chapter, too.

But it starts off with a bang… or should I say a slip…

In discussing this chapter Cassie and I picked out a few areas we wanted to highlight. I wish I could have done them all, but, alas, there are only so many hours!

Enough about that… the first image is Dean and Cas leaving the hospital with a less than happy Dean!

I was really lucky with this image. The image I started with was Dean with a full leg cast from Season 7, Episode 3, The Girl Next Door. I just needed to do a bit of editing to the existing image.

Next, I needed to add in Cas. I found a great pic of Misha, but didn’t like his expression and he was looking the wrong way.

On the Dean part of the image, I rebuilt Dean’s pant leg and shortened the cut. And in Cassie’s story there’s no cast, but a wrap, so I needed to create an ‘Ace’-bandage type of wrapping. It took 12 layers of ‘wrapping’ to create it and then two layers of that image. Once that was applied I painted in some texturing and I think it came out fairly well.

To get the Cas I wanted I took a different head from one of the epis, not sure which one. Then I took his left arm out of his pocket so he could help support Dean from behind. Next I rebuilt his jacket where I had to move his arm. Lastly, I added in some shadowing and it was done!

Cas is still a bit on the stiff side, so I may revisit this another time.


	32. Who doesn't text? Chapter 14

This was the first time I've done a phone text image. I've done other cell phone images but not a text one.

Unfortunately, although I know there are apps to create these lickety split, I could not find the one that was previously used in this story.

I wanted to remain somewhat consistent, so I created my own version... It came out better than I expected!

The one addition I wanted to make to this phone text was showing it in a phone and in Dean's hand. I also added the background I've used for his kitchen in chapter 8.

And so, you got this...


	33. Downhill Racers - Chapter 14

A sledding we will go!

Okay... I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I really wanted to do something for the sleedding fun that the guys have in this chapter.  
But I wanted to do it from the perspective of their POV. Easier said than done! But I got lucky with a couple of images.

I started with these... which have been reduced in size for illustrative purposes.

To create my end image I did several things...  
\-- removed the people from the main image  
\-- removed the background from the sled  
\-- found a different pair of shoes for Castiel's 'legs'  
\-- repositioned the fore legs (Dean's) to better fit the sled and to be bowed  
\-- trimmed the 'legs' of Dean - the front image  
\-- created the 'legs' for Cas and added the shoes  
\-- added Cas's legs  
\-- created leather straps for steering

Once all thos elements were in place I had what I needed for the image I wanted.

The final touch was adding snow blowback on the sled and adding more snow to the legs of our guys!

I hope you like it as much as Cassie and I do!


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